A 1952 Topps complete set. Starting "the" ultimate post war project

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by cardsagain74

Thanks!



And just found three more reasonable PSA 2 commons.



381/407

Well your Wilhelm still beats my turd! Someone SCRIBBLED all over the front!



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[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

Well your Wilhelm still beats my turd! Someone SCRIBBLED all over the front!

[cardsagain74]

One of the last few high minors picked up: Joe Black.

This card was cheap, though not alarmingly so. But it's not pretty. Between increasing prices (trying to stay on budget for the set), decreasing supply, and impatience to finish the set so much sooner than I expected, I'm starting to let my standards lax. Granted this one doesn't have any of the worst beater-like significant paper loss/tape/writing type damage that I pledged to avoid from the start, but it's still "poor" enough that I would've probably passed on this six months ago.

Am also getting a few more raw highs than I ever planned to. That makes this more exhausting, because I'm still not strong enough at diagnosing fakes/reprints or trimming. I know a lot of people say how obvious intentionally rounded corners, white corner wear, edges that look wrong, and so many other of those characteristics are, but for some of us, it's not as simple to diagnose sometimes as it's made out to be. I stick with longtime sellers with a great history in those spots, but as we all know, that's not foolproof either.

Naturally I'll double check the Black when it gets here, but I don't expect any problems. If anyone disagrees, feel free to let me know!

382/407

[cardsagain74]

Three more commons.

385/407

[Vintageloz]

Hi John

Thanks for the posts and sharing of your journey, it’s been an interesting read for me as I try to do the same (although at a much slower pace!). I started with the goal of completing a PSA graded low number set, which I competed about 2 years ago. I recently decided at give the highs a crack, although at this point I only have 8. The lows I was looking for mid grade (PSA3-6), the highs will most likely by PSA1-3 (the only one of note I have is Mathews in a PSA1). Hoping to focus on it a bit on this in 2021, maybe target 20 or so in the next year. Interesting to read your perspective on lowering your grading threshold as your work through. It’s such a large set and so dictated by availability that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. Good luck with the last few cards, it will be a great accomplishment when you’re done. The question is, where do you go from there?!

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by Vintageloz

Hi John

Thanks for the posts and sharing of your journey, it’s been an interesting read for me as I try to do the same (although at a much slower pace!). I started with the goal of completing a PSA graded low number set, which I competed about 2 years ago. I recently decided at give the highs a crack, although at this point I only have 8. The lows I was looking for mid grade (PSA3-6), the highs will most likely by PSA1-3 (the only one of note I have is Mathews in a PSA1). Hoping to focus on it a bit on this in 2021, maybe target 20 or so in the next year. Interesting to read your perspective on lowering your grading threshold as your work through. It’s such a large set and so dictated by availability that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. Good luck with the last few cards, it will be a great accomplishment when you’re done. The question is, where do you go from there?!

There are few places better to start than the Mathews though While the highs are naturally tough to start at this point in the marketplace, it could be worse. When I looked back at a couple SCDs from the junk wax era, it was surprising to see that low-grade highs (other than Jackie Robinson and, of course, Mantle) aren't that much more expensive than back then. While if someone is trying to start collecting something like PSA 9 or 10 '80s football or '86 Fleer basketball, you're paying like 5-8 times what the HOF rookie cards sold for one year ago

From here, I plan on slowing way down for awhile. Have been fortunate enough to land most of what I hoped to get (across everything). Eventually I want to fill in the entire '51 to '85 baseball sets run, but all the '60s (except '67) and a lot of the '70s remain. But it's the ones I'm least interested in that are left, so it's far from a rush.

[cardsagain74]

One...more...common

It's been almost a year now since the build began. No timetable for what's remaining; will get whatever I can, whenever the deal seems alright.

But highs are pretty picked over at the moment (even a little more than usual)

386/407